Hostage
A hostage is a type of NPC in the ''Counter-Strike'' series. They are the objectives in hostage rescue scenarios. Counter-Terrorists must rescue the hostages by bringing them to a hostage rescue zone or eliminating Terrorists, and the Terrorists must prevent the CTs from extracting the hostages by either running down the clock or eliminating the CTs. __FORCETOC__ Gameplay and history Counter-Strike Beta Since hostage rescue is the first scenario ever created for the series, hostages have been appearing since the Counter-Strike Beta. Originally, their role was somewhat different. Although still requiring to be rescued by Counter-Terrorists, the round win wasn't determined by it. In fact up until the fourth beta, hostages were nothing more but a means to earn more cash at the end of each round, should the team earning the bonuses win the round by eliminating the opposing team. Hostages weren't automatically rescued, requiring user input once they'd reach their spawn point as separate hostage rescue zones were not implemented until the second beta. Even then, the interface didn't show that the player was in a hostage rescue zone making it difficult to know when hostages could be rescued. Perhaps as an artifact of the lack of separate zones, maps that lack separate hostage rescue zones will still substitute the Counter-Terrorist spawn points as hostage rescue zones. Originally the hostage path finding was also considerably worse and hostages would often get stuck in walls, doors or surfaces. However, perhaps to compensate for the poor navigation, hostages had the ability to scale walls in order to keep up with the player. Hostages could also be moved by Terrorists and be used as meat shields when needed. They could also be moved around simply by walking up against them. The third beta saw a significant improvements for hostage path finding. The gameplay was overhauled at the fourth beta, hostages became more than a simple monetary and became the keystone of the rescue scenario we know today. 50% of the hostages had to be rescued by the Counter-Terrorists to ensure their victory, otherwise the match victor would be either determined by elimination or running down the clock, which in most cases would lead to Terrorist victory. The fifth beta would cause any hostage entering in contact with the hostage rescue zone to be rescued, no longer requiring Counter-Terrorist input. Hostages were also given new models as so far, all the hostages re-used the Half-Life scientists model or the G-Man model. The sixth beta finally introduced a kick penalty for killing hostages, as it was common practice for Terrorists, despite the presence of a monetary penalty, to execute hostages so that the match outcome would be solely determined by elimination. Counter-Strike The full release of Counter-Strike kept most of the core changes that were brought over the course of the beta. Hostages are held in a Terrorist stronghold and must be rescued by Counter-Terrorists by being led to a hostage rescue zone. Counter-Terrorists are either required to eliminate the entire opposing team or rescue ALL of the hostages before time runs out (at-least half amount of hostage should some died). Any other scenario lead to a Terrorist victory. In Counter-Strike 1.4 a few changes were implemented to the hostage AI. For one, hostages stop following the player should he be too away from their position, unlike previous versions where hostages will attempt to follow even from very far ranges. The general way they follow the player was also made more realistic and smooth which included removing the ability for hostages to scale walls. Finally as of this version, Terrorists can no longer approach and make hostages follow them. Counter-Strike (Xbox) The Xbox version of the game did not bring any significant changes other than giving each hostage rescue map a different hostage model and giving said hostages new quotes. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero When Counter-Strike: Condition Zero was originally released, the hostage rescue scenario was identical to that of the original Counter-Strike. However, in version 1.2 a major change was made to the scenario. Although the core of the hostage rescue scenario hasn't changed, Turtle Rock Studios' newly implemented hostage AI has brought significant changes to the gameplay of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Hostages received significantly improved mobility, gaining the ability to jump, crouch, crawl to reach their intended destination. This opened up additional rescue routes that were previously impossible due to the limitation of the hostage AI in the previous games. Their navigation is improved compared to Counter-Strike. Hostages also received a much wider array of lines and reacted to their environment and situation.Counter-Terrorists would be warned of nearby Terrorist presence, waved at and called to indicate current location and constantly ask to be saved and/or encourage their rescuer. Hostages can also be told to follow from a distance unlike any other game in the series, as it required face to face interaction. Atop of being discouraged and talked into surrendering, Terrorists would have to pay much closer attention to the hostages as when left unguarded, they would wander off and attempt to reach the Hostage rescue zone on their own or contact the nearest Counter-Terrorist. A Terrorist can force back a hostage to his initial captivity point by having a crosshair pointed at them. Terrorists can also know when hostages are being rescued as they speak to their rescuers. Hostages also react to grenades. They will yell when blinded by Flashbangs, cough when passing through a Smoke grenade's smoke and run for their lives when being near a live HE grenade. Out of self preservation, they also cower when being near firefights and run when injured. Hostages can also be pushed around by players instead of staying unmoving. On the other hand, hostages in the Deleted Scenes are closer to their Counter-Strike counter-parts. Although not having as many features, they are critical to Hostage rescue scenarios as a single one of them dying automatically results in mission failure. Their model and language depend on the setting and location of the mission. Counter-Strike: Source Counter-Strike: Source, while still developed by Turtle Rock Studios, opts away from the AI introduced in Condition Zero to revert back to the original simple behavior of the hostages. The hostages have models recycled from Half-Life 2, quotes recycled from Condition Zero, and improved navigation AI compared to the hostages from Counter-Strike, but without the more advanced interactions seen in Conditon Zero. In addition, gameplay has been altered so that if hostages died during the match, Counter-Terrorists can still win by rescuing by the remaining ones (although in previous games, at least one hostage must be rescued should the others die). Counter-Strike: Global Offensive During the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta and during the first year after release, the Hostage rescue scenario and hostages worked and behaved the same way they did in Counter-Strike: Source. This was changed during the update, where the rules of the mode and the hostage "behavior" received a massive overhaul. All Hostage Scenario games no longer had four hostages, but instead had two that would be assigned to random positions from an array of spawn points on the maps. The hostages are on their knees and tied, and are no longer escorted, but instead carried by CT operatives on their backs. Rescuing them requires a CT player to reach them, untie them in a process that takes 4 seconds (1 with the Rescue Kit, 5 seconds in Co-op Strike), and finally carry them to the Hostage rescue zone. The untying process produces a sound anyone can hear. Only one hostage can be carried by one CT player at a time and only one rescue is needed to secure CT victory, though another Counter-Terrorist can rescue the other hostage for an extra monetary reward. Hostages are also now invulnerable, but still induce cash penalties when wounded or killed (should the right console commands be called). When carried, the rescuer will be slowed down, with one additional minute added to the round timer as compensation. Outside of the multiplayer Hostage Scenario, hostages can also be found in co-op Guardian missions. Rewards and penalties ~ There is no limit to how much damage a hostage can take. Even if the damage is higher than their health, money will still be deducted for every point of damage dealt. This can result in extreme cash penalties for a single hostage casualty. For instance, a point blank AWP headshot will result in a -$11980 penalty. The maximum amount of damage a hostage can take per shot is 100, thus -$3000 is the maximum penalty per shot. Because hostages cannot die and cannot die under normal circumstances, it is possible to lose an infinite amount of money by hitting hostages. If damage is enabled through console commands, one can have a maximum penalty of -$4000 for killing a hostage (Health * Damage Penalty + Death Penalty) * Update Hostage Rescue Mode rules * Hostage positions are randomly assigned at the beginning of the match. The hostages will start at these positions for the entire match. * Hostages are now carried by CT instead of following behind. * Hold +use for 4 seconds to pick up a hostage. (Equipping a rescue kit will decrease the time required to 1 second.) * CT win a round when the first hostage is rescued. * Reduced round timer. Round time is extended when the first hostage has been picked up. * Rebalanced money rewards to accommodate new rules. *Hostage now indicate whether they are above or below you on the radar. }} Appearance and appearances The Counter-Strike Beta re-used a lot of assets from Half-Life. This extended to the hostage models, reusing the scientist models for the most part and the G-Man model on rare occasions. The orange jumpsuit Worker (also known as construction worker) and African American Suit models commonly used in the retail version were added later in the 5th Beta, their model is simply known as "Hostage". The models used in the retail versions are the same as the Beta. With the High Definition Pack made available to Counter-Strike, when high definition models are enabled, all scientist and G-Man models will be swapped with their Half-Life HD counterpart. This does not apply to the Worker or Suit models as they are not part of the Half-Life High Definition Pack. The Xbox version of Counter-Strike features higher shader version of Ritual Entertainment models. "US Gal", "Businessman", "NPC" and "Worker" renamed to "Blonde" and "Latina" for the first one, Businessman staying the same, "NPC" to "Young Businessman" and "Worker" to "Jumpsuit". "Schoolgirl" remains the same. It is not known for a fact which models Ritual Entertainment's build would have utilized but it is likely that the orange jumpsuit hostage model was to be used. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero introduced four new models for Hostages, all four workers in orange jumpsuits and blue jeans of varying ethnicity: "HostageA", "HostageB", "HostageC", "HostageD" Ritual Entertainment included a wide array of models and variants for use as hostages even including Counter-Terrorists being held hostage. The known models are as follows: "US Gal", "Businessman", "Schoolgirl", "NPC", "Seal Scientist", "Japcop scientist", "Worker", "Worker-Pilot". The Counter-Strike: Source hostage models and face maps are recycled Half-Life 2 citizen models, both retail and beta: *The first model re-uses the face map of the cut character Samuel, model male 05 in the citizen list. *The second model re-uses the face map of Winston, model male 06 in the citizen list. *The third model re-uses the face map of the cut character Captain Vance, model male 08 in the citizen list. *The fourth model re-uses Dr. Kleiner's beta face map, "Cohrt". Five variants of one hostage model exist in the current version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, all are wearing orange jumpsuits, are bare feet and tied, forced to wear a blindfold. Hostages also show signs of abuse as indicated by their bruises. Four other variants wearing suits were present in the beta but removed at release. While all the current models are forced into their knees and static, the console versions of the game still feature them standing as said versions never receive any updates. Achievements Counter-Strike: Source= ;Rescue |-| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive= ;Team Tactics Console commands Counter-Strike= ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 0 ** Toggles what information players see in the status bar0 everyone: players see all names listed in the status bar (with appropriate team colors)1 team only: players only see names for their teammates and hostages in the status bar2 off: players do not see any names in the status bar (hostages included) * ** Default value is 13 ** Max. number of hostages you can kill before the server boots you out... setting this to 0 will shut off this command. ;Hostage * ** Removed in Beta 5.0 ** Rescues following hostages once at Hostage rescue zone or spawn point. * ** Default value is 0 ** Non-functional * ** Default value is 0 ** Non-functional ;Render * ** Default value is 0 ** Turns on the occlusion calculations. If enabled, light halos (made by env_glow entity) and some explosions sprites won't be seen through AI Players (hostages in CS, scientists and monsters in HL) when behind them. |-| Counter-Strike: Condition Zero= ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 0 ** Toggles what information players see in the status bar0 everyone: players see all names listed in the status bar (with appropriate team colors)1 team only: players only see names for their teammates and hostages in the status bar2 off: players do not see any names in the status bar (hostages included) * ** Default value is 13 ** Max. number of hostages you can kill before the server boots you out... setting this to 0 will shut off this command. ;Hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** When set to 1, enables debugging mode for hostages, indicating their movement and pathfinding with tracers as well as collisions in the console * ** Default value is 0 ** When set to 1, disables hostage AI and freezes them ;Render * ** Default value is 0 ** Turns on the occlusion calculations. If enabled, light halos (made by env_glow entity) and some explosions sprites won't be seen through AI Players (hostages in CS, scientists and monsters in HL) when behind them. |-| Counter-Strike: Source= ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 13 ** Terrorist are kicked for killing too much hostages ;Hostages * ** Default value is 0 ** Show hostage debug information ;Navigation * ** Toggles the hostages cannot use this area flag used by the AI system. ;Server Variable * * Default value is 20000 ** How hard the hostage is pushed away from physics objects (falls off with inverse square of distance). * * Default value is 1000 ** Maximum of how hard the hostage is pushed away from physics objects. |-| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive= ;Cash * ** Default value is -30 ** How much money is lost on every point of damage dealt to a hostage * * Default value is 150 ** How much money is earned when attempting to rescue a hostage * ** Default value is -1000 ** How much money is lost when killing a hostage * ** Default value is 1000 ** How much money is earned upon rescuing a hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** How much money Terrorists earn per hostage kept alive at a win * ** Default value is 500 ** How much money Counter-Terrorists earn when attempting to rescue the hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** How much money Counter-Terrorists earn when rescuing a hostage ;Hostage * ** Default value is 0 ** Shows hostage debug info * ** Default is 0 ** When set, the hostage won't play any code driven response rules lines ;Multiplayer * ** Default value is 2 ** Maximum number of hostages to spawn. * ** Default value is 1 ** Additional time added to round time if a hostage is reached by a CT. * ** Default is 1 ** Slow down hostages by setting this to < 1.0. * ** Default is 0 ** When enabled will consistently force the farthest hostages to spawn. * ** Default value is "" ** Forces hostages to spawn at specified hostage points * ** Default value is 1 ** Forces hostages to keep the same spawns for the entire match. * ** Default value is 0 ** Whether or not hostages can be hurt. ;Counter-Strike * ** Default value is 2000 ** How far can the pre-rescue music be heard ;Navigation * ** Checks to be sure every (or just the marked) nav area can get to every goal area for the map (hostages or bomb site). * ** Toggles the hostages cannot use this area flag used by the AI system. ;Server Variable * ** Default value is 20000 ** How hard the hostage is pushed away from physics objects (falls off with inverse square of distance). * ** Default value is 1000 ** Maximum of how hard the hostage is pushed away from physics objects. |-| Bugs and exploits * During the Counter-Strike Beta, hostages would often be used as platforms, allowing their leaders to reach normally inaccessible areas of the map. * Ping of Death bots will kill hostages should they block their paths. * If forced into a cramped space, a hostage may become stuck. Although they cannot be moved by anyone, there is a small chance that they automatically reappear at their spawn point. * Due to a lack of multiple hitboxes, the G-Man model possessing only one cannot be headshot. All damage dealt to him will be considered chest/arms damage. ** In addition, the G-Man model lacks any death animations. This causes him to remain in an idle animation on death without any collision. * Early and Beta versions of Counter-Strike allow players to "steal" other people's hostages by pressing the use key on already following hostages, causing them to change rescuer. * A visual bug in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero causes dying hostages to replay their death animations after leaving and re-entering the room they were in. * Activating the debug mode for hostages in both Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for Terrorists to lead and carry hostages. This feature is bugged in the latter game as carrying the hostage will spawn a duplicate atop of the carrier, preventing any movement until the hostage is dropped (on death) or until the user noclips. * If a hostage is killed in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive after is enabled, their ragdoll will clip halfway through the ground atop of having a duplicate play the kneeling animation a last time before disappearing. Trivia *The Counter-Strike: Source hostages are the only in-game characters in the entire franchise to have full facial animations. All other characters have either static expressions, mouth only movement or are only seen in trailers. *The Suit hostage model introduced in the Counter-Strike Beta was used to create the VIP playermodel. *Arabstreets and Motel are the only multiplayer maps in the series to feature DOA hostages. Behind the scenes * Unused quotes from the hostages in the Deleted Scenes suggest that wounded hostages would be either slowed or immobilized, requiring first aid before moving any further. Said quotes thank the player for giving them a "shot". This suggests that either the Syringe gun or the Portable Medkit were to be used on hostages. * The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta features four other hostage variants wearing semi-formal suits. These models were used for Office but were ultimately removed and replaced with the four original variants on release. ** A console error occurs when loading any maps featuring hostages, stating that the game failed to load the map's hostage models. This indicates that each map was to have its own hostage models, a feature seen in Counter-Strike (Xbox). External links *Hostage at Wikipedia Category:Gameplay Category:Factions